AI technology offers free alternatives to expensive software and subscriptions. But where can you save? From writing and note-taking to PDF and transcription, these are the tools that regularly save you money.
Note: Most of these tools will have paid options. Whether you need to spend money on this or not depends on your usage. All the tools mentioned come with a generous free version and all the functionality you require to upgrade and replace subscription services.

Creating custom images or sourcing stock images is always time-consuming and/or expensive, if you're constantly sourcing or creating images to accompany your work. Now use the free version of Leonardo.AI to create more of your works of art.
How does Leonardo.AI help save money?
- The free version is limited to 150 tokens per day. As a general rule, a single created image without changes will cost 24 tokens.
- The free version of Leonardo.AI limits you to small and medium resolution options. However, it still allows you to create images at 1376×768 resolution, which is a good enough resolution for most purposes.
- You can select up to 4 images per prompt.
2. ChatGPT: Free writing assistant

As a writing assistant, ChatGPT is an extremely powerful tool, and the free version will be more than enough for all but the most avid writers. Although it can do so, as a writer you should not rely on ChatGPT to create entire articles. But that doesn't diminish its value as a writing assistant, and the free version works perfectly in that role.
How does ChatGPT save money?
- The free version uses the GPT-4o model, which offers a variety of tasks, from refining text to generating creative ideas quickly.
- Free users can only use the GPT-4o mini version a limited number of times within a 5-hour time frame. After that, the free version uses the GPT-4o mini version which is still useful but not as powerful. However, the company still maintains a cautious attitude when revealing this limited quantity.
- The free version of ChatGPT doesn't include advanced features like file uploading or Internet browsing capabilities, but is still a powerful tool for drafting and brainstorming.

While tools like ChatGPT are great for putting ideas on paper, their work really stops there. This is where built-in grammar checkers come into play. There are plenty of free spell and grammar checkers to choose from, and they all do their job quite well.
How does LanguageTool help save money?
- LanguageTool has plugins and applications for browsers, office applications and email clients.
- The free version has a grammar checker, spell checker, and paraphrasing tool.
- Word documents can be uploaded and checked online.
4. Otter AI: Transcription tool, etc.

Otter AI is a transcription tool that can record and organize spoken content. This tool is extremely useful for remote workers. Otter AI creates real-time searchable records and integrates with most productivity and collaboration tools.
How does Otter AI save money?
- This tool integrates with tools like Zoom, Slack, Office 365, and Google. However, you need to get the premium version to integrate with other apps, including Dropbox.
- The free version allows up to 300 minutes of transcription per month with a limit of 30 minutes per recording.
- Otter AI Chat can be used to ask questions about detailed information in the recording. For example, you might ask, “What is the AI paper submission date?” and Otter Chat will search for you.
5. PDFGear: Versatile PDF tool

The popular PDF file has been around for decades. Despite being a widely used format, PDF can still be difficult to work with without paying for an application like Adobe Acrobat. PDF Gear is an app that solves this problem but goes further. Not only does PDFGgear let you create and edit PDFs for free, it also has built-in AI Copilot.
How does PDFGear help save money?
- Full-featured free PDF toolkit with editing, merging, and signing functions.
- Integrated chatbot for efficient work.
- OCR capability can convert scanned PDF into TXT or Word documents with support for over 300 languages.
In addition to time-saving functions like summarizing large documents, the main cost savings is avoiding subscription costs to toolsets like Adobe Acrobat.